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Things changed once Sara found out she was pregnant. The captains decided to settle down and buy a house in Star City to raise their little baby in the most peaceful environment possible, or at least until Astrid turned one year old.As for things on the ship, now it was more of a group effort than a leadership. Nate was supposed to take on the captain role, but since he was always going in and out of the totem, it was quite impossible to lead missions he wasn’t even on, and for Behrad and Zari… They weren’t exactly captain material. That left Astra and Spooner, who were missing years of time-travelling experience, so there wasn’t exactly a clear choice either. At the end of the day, though, they did make it work, and they got the job done as well, so they couldn’t complain. “If I have to hear another song coming from a princess, I will literally blow my brains out,” Astra complained as she walked into Constantine’s pocket dimension house. “I liked them. That last one had a funky tune.” Spooner followed her behind. The team had found a series of time displacements that had made all the classic princess tales come to life in different time periods, so they had to send the fairytale people or objects back to their world while making sure they didn’t change the timeline in the process. In another words: it was a freaking mess. Astra lay on the couch and closed her eyes. “God.” She sighed. “Peace, at last.” Astra should’ve learned not to say stuff like this when working with the legends because a second after she said it, a portal opened, and trouble stepped in. “Oh, thank God you’re here. I tried calling Gideon, but she wouldn’t answer. None of you would.” Ava said. “I need a favor.” “And I need a nap,” Astra said half-listening to her, not bothering to open her eyes. “Um, Ava. Who’s this--” Spooner said as she walked to the kitchen. “Spoony-Roony!” A little girl ran from Ava’s side and clung to her legs. Spooner froze. “What did you just call me?” “We just came from school, so if you could give her a sandwich or something. She’ll eat whatever you give her. You know her. And if you could help her do her homework, she’s working on the colours right now. So you got it. You know the colours. I’ll be gone for two hours. Three max.” “Okay but wait, hold on. Who’s this kid?” “What do you mean, who is this. It’s Astrid. I really don’t have time for this, Spooner, cause I’m already running superlate--” “Mama has an important meeting.” The child said, whispering to Spooner. “And Astrid had a half-day at school, and I haven’t even had lunch yet--” Ava grabbed a muffin from the table. “Mama, don’t forget to get me the dinosaur socks today.” “I won’t, baby, I’ll pick them up when I leave, okay? I love you, bug.” She said to the small child. “And thank you for everything. I owe you both big time. Okay, bye.” “Bye, mama.” Ava left, and Spooner still had this child attached to her leg. “Um, Astra? You want to come and look at this for a second?” Spooner said as she looked at the unknown child. “Ugh, fine.” Astra got up from the couch, and as soon as the kid saw her, she let go of Spooner’s leg. “Auntie Astra!” Astrid’s hug took Astra by surprise. “So that’s Astrid,” Spooner said. “And she appears to be Sara and Ava’s kid. From the future.” “What?” --- As they bribed the little kid with a jar full of cookies in the kitchen, the pair moved to the living room. “How is this possible? We literally just met Astrid. In the hospital. Like, three days ago,” Astra said. “And I don’t know much about kids, but that does not look like a three-day-old newborn to me.” “Oh, I have no idea. Maybe alien hybrid babies grow faster than normal?” They both looked at Astrid, who was still devouring the cookies. “Hey, kid. How old are you?” Astra asked. Astrid put four fingers up. “And a half.” “Okay, so what do we do? Should we call the team? Try Sara, maybe?” Spooner suggested. “There’s no one in the Waverider right now, and we can’t call Sara cause if this is really her kid from the future, it could mess up the timeline,” Astra said. “Right,” Spooner said. “Well, maybe we should just ask.” “Ask who?” “Astrid. Maybe she knows something.” “Spooner, she’s four.” “And a half!” Astrid shouted from the other room. After setting up a plan, they both walked into the kitchen as if they were handling a dangerous animal. The first thing on the list, figure out if this child is really Ava and Sara’s. “I’m done,” Astrid said, putting her empty plate on a side. “Can we play pirates now?” “In a second. We—we have some questions for you,” Spooner said as she sat in front of the little girl. “Who are your parents, Astrid?” Astrid chuckled. “Who are your parents, Spoony-Goony?” Spooner didn’t know what to say to that, so she looked at Astra. “Well, I tried.” And she got up from the chair. “Are you kidding me?” Astra whispered to her. “I don’t know how to talk to kids, Astra. You try it.” “Jesus, Spooner.” Astra sat on the same chair as Spooner’s. “Why don’t we play a game? If you answer all these questions correctly, I’ll give you…” Astra looked around the kitchen, trying to find something a kid would have wanted. “The sparkles!” She said, excited. “What?” “Your sparkles.” Astrid pointed at Astra’s hands. “Sure.” She just went along with it. “Who are your parents, Astrid?” “Sara and Ava.” “Okay.” So she could be their friends’ kid. “And do you know who we are?” Astrid chuckled. “This game is too easy, auntie Astra.” Despite Astrid calling her ‘auntie’ all the time, Astra still wasn’t sure, so she continued asking her questions until Astrid looked physically worn down. “Okay, so this is crazy,” Astra mumbled. “I want the sparkles now, auntie Astra!” Astra looked at the child. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know what that is.” Astrid looked left and right as if she was searching for someone spying on them. “Your magic.” She whispered. “Make sparkles with your magic. Like always.” If there were any doubts, the fact that Astrid knew about Astra’s ability to make magic was the ultimate confirmation they needed, and from all the information they had gathered, they also seemed to have a very close relationship with her, which made everything much more manageable. This reminded Astra of John’s lesson on pocket dimensions. How each one managed time very differently from what they were accustomed to, and how it folded into itself just as not to occupy that much space, allowing these “errors” to happen when a person tried to use the house when someone else was already inside in that same fold. After finally accepting it, Astra ‘made the sparkles’ for Astrid, which was just an illusion spell imitating fireworks coming out of the palm of her hand, and Spooner helped Astrid with her homework. Once they finished, they played dress up, which most of the time consisted of putting clips and bows and everything Astrid could find in Spooner and Astra’s hair, and they had a little parade where they could show their looks to each other.Finally, a portal opened, and Ava entered the mansion. “Oh, my God,” Ava said. “What has she done to you two?” “Mama!” Astrid went to receive her. “Hi, bug. Did you have fun with Auntie Astra and Auntie Spooner today?” She said as she held her in her arms. “The best fun. At first, it was a little weird ‘cause they asked me weird questions, but then Astra made the sparkles and then we did my homework and we played, and we ate cookies, chocolate, and we—” “Oh, God. The sugar rush…” “Consider it payback,” Astra said, but she was smiling. “No, but seriously. Thank you, you two.” “We’re just glad she had fun,” Spooner replied. “Well, we’ll be out of your hair now.” Ava smiled. “You want to say goodbye to your very awesome aunts?” Astrid went to hug them both and grabbed her mother’s hand. “Did you like what I did with their hair?” Astrid was telling Ava while they walked to the time portal. “Oh, I sure did.” “Maybe I can do their hair at their wedding too!” That was the last thing Astrid and Ava said before the portal closed. Astra and Spooner both looked at each other. Did they hear that right or…?